Autocar: Mazda has ‘affordable’ carbon-fiber in the works, coming to future Miata

Mazda MX-5 Miata program manager Nobuhiro Yamamoto told Autocar a future version of the tiny, light sports car will eventually lose even more weight, as “we have in development affordable carbonfibre”

“The size is right,” Yamamoto told the magazine in a story posted Friday. “But in the future lightweight materials will be very important and will be used in this car. Now carbonfibre is very expensive, but we have in development affordable carbonfibre, so the MX-5 will be lighter in the future.”

The latest generation of the Miata came to the U.S. last year, the 2016 model year. Autocar reports the new generation wouldn’t come before 2021.

The base 2016 MX-5 Club can be had as cheaply as $28,600 if you get the manual transmission. The most expensive MX-5 package would be the Grand Touring automatic (but purists will mock you) at $31,270. That’s pretty inexpensive, so it’ll be interesting how Mazda adds carbon fiber and keep it within that affordable ballpark (adjusted for inflation).